Valerius Maximus.

Folio (285 x 188mm.), printed on vellum, 198 leaves, 30 lines, Gothic letter (with spaces left for Greek words), headings and colophon (with printer's device in facsimile) printed in red, 2- to 6-line initials in gold on red and blue penwork backgrounds, other one-line initials, paraph marks, line fillers and running chapter numbers in red and blue, early nineteenth-century English brown morocco, covers panelled with blind and gilt fillets and decorative gilt border, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges, initial on [h]10 slightly smudged, some marginal repairs to vellum including loss of printer's device, extremities slightly rubbed

Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876), bookplate dated 1850, sale, Paris, 6-15 June 1878, lot 713, 2950 FF; Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903), armorial bookplate, sale in these rooms, 13 July 1948, lot 118, £620 to Robinson; Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh, bookplate

H 15774; GW M49160; BMC i 27; Goff V23; Alston, p.171; Van Praet, Vélins du Roi, 476

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Peter Schoeffer, a copyist and calligrapher who started his printing career with Johann Gutenberg, was a successful printer in Mainz who continued to produce books until his death in 1502. Schoeffer's early books are notable for their use of red printing and for the substantial number of works printed on vellum as well as paper - Van Praet lists at least 27 editions by him on vellum.

This is the second edition of Valerius Maximus's compendium of moral anecdotes from history; the first (undated) was published in Strassburg by Mentelin about a year earlier. Its continuing popularity from the medieval period into the Renaissance is attested by the high number of fifteenth-century editions produced.

The Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke records six other copies (and one fragment) of this edition on vellum, approximately one tenth of the total surviving copies of the work.

This copy belonged to Ambroise-Firmin Didot, of the great Didot publishing dynasty. He initially followed a diplomatic career and was for a time attaché of the French Embassy at Constantinople. He took advantage of his position to visit the East and Greece, being the first to discover the location of Pergamum. When his father retired in 1827 he took over the publishing business, together with his brother Hyacinthe.